As anyone who has read this blog before will likely know, I’m working on a new iOS app called Novus, an feed reader application that is now fully driven by Google Reader. Rather than just being a client for Google Reader, Novus was engineered to use Google Reader as more of a cloud backup and really emphasise adding, removing and managing feeds within the application.
But how do I know this will make prospective users happy? Will this be a way in which they’d want to interact with Google Reader, or do they really just want a dumb client?
My idea with novus is to do as apple do. Make it powerful while keeping tasks simple to do. Hopefully this approach means the app will we both desirable to both novice and pro feed users. Building in advance sharing options that can be turned on and off by the user clearing menu space an buttons off alert sheets. Making toolbars clever. Similar to how Tapbots did this in tweetbot.
Hopefully with more developers adhering to this approach it will become possible to keep the majority of users content with your app. Let them use it how they see fit.